■ Torere Macadamias and Riddet Institute join forces

A partnership between Torere Macadamias and the Riddet Institute aims to unlock value from macadamia nuts while growing the next generation of Māori agribusiness researchers.

Torere Macadamias and the Riddet Institute have signed a strategic partnership to advance food innovation and support the growth of Aotearoa New Zealand’s macadamia industry.

This collaboration formalises and celebrates four years of shared research and innovation.

Together, they aim to help strengthen New Zealand’s macadamia value chain by transforming nuts and by-products into high-value foods and ingredients.

In a collaboration with Pūhoro STEMM Academy, the partners hope to establish enduring career pipelines for rangatahi Māori through food science and mātauranga Māori.

Torere Macadamias is a whānau-led organic macadamia nursery, orchard and nut company based in the Eastern Bay.

Pioneering founder and general manager Vanessa Hayes has spent 40 years developing macadamia varieties for New Zealand, with a 2022 Plant & Food Research study confirming the nuts are nutritionally superior to imported varieties.

Ms Hayes, who also champions sustainable, organic growing practices, won the 2024 Entrepreneurial Māori Business Leader award, reflecting Torere Macadamias’ impact on Māori enterprise and sustainable agribusiness in Aotearoa.

The Riddet Institute is an internationally recognised Centre of Research Excellence in food science and related disciplines, hosted by Massey University in Palmerston North.

The roots of the new partnership go back to 2022, when Ms Hayes began exploring the potential value of macadamia husks and shells as sources of bioactive ingredients.

Her interest in the husks was sparked by an observation of animal behaviour.

“For many years the cows from neighbouring properties have been pushing down our fence to get to the macadamia husks.  

“We wanted to understand what was attracting the cows, so we met up with experts at the Riddet Institute to see what’s there and how we might extract and use the valuable compounds in new innovations.”

Faruk Ahmed, supervised by Riddet Institute scientist Ali Rashidinejad, commenced a PhD research project to investigate macadamia husks, shells and leaves for bioactive compounds that could be used in functional food products or pharmaceutical supplements.

The results to date have demonstrated that macadamia husks contain major phenolic compounds (a potent source of antioxidants) with considerable potential for future applications.

Ms Hayes said formalising the strategic partnership with the Riddet Institute was a significant milestone, adding to her decades of pioneering macadamia research in New Zealand.

“Together, through our research partner network, we can further secure New Zealand’s macadamia industry, deepen academic capability and fuel future discoveries towards developing unique new products, such as those for health and wellness, cosmetics and pet foods.  

“We see this as a critical lever to empower Māori landowners and businesses, supporting the longevity of a sustainable and collaborative business sector through research and innovation in globally relevant food science.”

The Riddet Institute’s acting director, Distinguised Professor Paul Moughan, said the institute was delighted to collaborate with Torere Macadamias to explore new frontiers in high-value food and ingredient development.

He said the partnership would promote local expertise and indigenous know-how, together with cutting-edge science.  

“This strategic partnership is a powerful example of how indigenous enterprise and advanced food science can work together to generate real economic and social impact.

“Macadamias present exciting opportunities for future foods and bioactive ingredients, and we are extremely proud to support the aspirations of Torere Macadamias Ltd and Māori capability building through research projects that connect young rangatahi to meaningful careers in food science.”

Ms Hayes expects the partnership will lead to new products that extend Torere Macadamias’ high-value product range. The company’s Cinnamon Glaze macadamias have been a business class snack on Air New Zealand flights since 2024.

Torere Macadamias products are available at Commonsense Organic outlets in Auckland and Wellington, at Moore Wilsons in Wellington and online.